Stellar Exploration Inc.

Stellar Exploration Inc., a Subchapter S corporation based in San Luis Obispo, California, performs space propulsion and spacecraft systems design, fabrication, and testing under federal research and development contracts as a prime contractor (75% of recent awards) and as a subcontractor to major aerospace primes. The vendor operates in the space exploration and satellite-propulsion sector, competing primarily in full-and-open federal research procurements rather than under set-aside categories; no SBA designations are present in the source.

Stellar's customer base clusters around space and defense R&D agencies. NASA Ames Research Center leads by award count (4 awards, $1.4 million combined potential value) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency anchors the dollar ranking (2 awards, $1.6 million), with the Department of the Army's PEO Missiles and Space, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, and the Department of the Navy Naval Sea Systems Command each holding one award. The five agencies account for 75% of awards and 76% of combined potential value. DARPA and Army missile-and-space funding represent the largest single-award concentrations, while NASA's footprint is spread across multiple smaller efforts.

Stellar's capability work centers on spacecraft subsystems and propulsion. As a prime, the vendor executes space research and development contracts in physical and engineering sciences; recent NAICS distribution shows 5 awards under "Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)" and 3 under the related nanotechnology-excepted category. As a subcontractor, Stellar delivers propulsion-unit design and fabrication to The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (CINEMA mission support under ARDES II, awarded April 2026), to The Aerospace Corporation (FY19 hydrazine monopropellant thruster and gas generator engineering, April 2025), and to NOU Systems Inc. (design, fabrication, and testing support, August 2024). Activity is sparse — one award per calendar year over the past three years (2024, 2025, 2026) — with combined obligated dollars ($6.7 million) exceeding combined potential value ($5.8 million), suggesting awards have drawn down or been fully expended.